Given the scope and budget of most games that get released on consoles and PC, it's understandable that a lot more data is needed before one is greenlit into development and given a marketing push. Even if you're a company as big as Microsoft, a lot of factors still need to be considered, though it seems it's less formulaic now compared to years past.

Xbox division boss Phil Spencer shared this in a recent interview with Game File (paywalled), in which the exec was asked about a game's pathway to success. What factors are they considering? Do review scores matter? Does a game's popularity on social media matter? And so on?

Spencer states that while Call of Duty has a lot of IP and name recognition among gamers, they still worked with a lot of content creators to spotlight the game, which is something they do even with smaller titles such as Compulsion, South of Midnight. Spencer believes people are now looking for people they trust to "talk positively about a game that they want." This can be a friend, a games media journalist, a website, and so on, but publishers and game creators need to be prepared to use "when you see where it takes off."

Citing Obisidian Entertainment's Grounded as an example, Spencer states how it's not a big AAA title, and that it was made with just 12 people at the studio doing a "Game Preview" game. Pushing it out, Microsoft found that people really liked the setting, and with the reception they received, Spencer notes, "Okay now let's go make sure we've got the team behind it. We've got a plan to continue to grow it", though he adds this success isn't something you'll know when you launch a game.

Continuing with Grounded as an example, Spencer states, "It's less Excel now, and it's more [about] having a team of people that are really plugged into a lot of different signals, because people are looking for trust signals of what to go play next, and it comes from very different places."

When asked to elaborate on what he meant by "less Excel," Spencer explains it's less formulaic, adding, "Excel, meaning like, we used to have [the idea that], “Okay, you've got a game. You're going to spend 20% of the game's projected revenue on marketing. You're going to spend this much, what we call above the line—ATL—that's your ad buy. And then you're going to have a little bit of post-launch support. And then you're going to watch, because everything just kind of waterfalls."

Even if success these days is less formulaic, I can't say it's better. Take Microsoft, for example. Even if the company has the largest stable of gaming IPs available, and with an army of game development studios at its disposal thanks to multiple acquisitions, we still get titles like Redfall that fail, causing a studio to shutdown. This problem isn't exclusive to just Microsoft, but it's a worrying trend given even with social media, a huge marketing budget, the help of content creators and the like, it's still quite hard for games to achieve success. Unless, of course, you're a very established brand like Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto.

Will this new approach to marketing and releasing games be better for game creators? I honestly can't say, but I hope it helps push for better games and, in turn, fewer studio layoffs.

Posted: 2 hours, 37 minutes ago
Related Forum: Gaming Discussion

Source: https://www.dualshockers.com/phil-spencer-xbox-game-releases-success-less-excel/